Hideo Kojima Wants To Step Away From Metal Gear Franchise

Hideo Kojima, the man responsible for the hugely successful Metal Gear games, has stated that he would like to step away from the franchise and focus on other projects but so far he hasn’t found a suitable replacement.

Whilst speaking to Game Informer, Kojima said that the franchise could be “difficult to handle” but said he was worried that the franchise might go down hill if he were to leave it in the wrong hands. “At Kojima Productions, if our studio were a kitchen and the head chef changes then it changes the flavour,” he added. “The franchise usually becomes more open, as in Alien. To be honest, I’ve actually wanted to do something similar just to change it.

“I don’t know if the Metal Gear brand sometimes is a bit heavy to carry. The franchise is difficult to handle. But so far I’ve had no success [passing the torch]. Metal Gear Rising [Revengeance], fortunately that was a spin-off so that went well. Ideally I would like to step out from the Metal Gear franchise as a producer and dedicate myself to other games. So far that has proven to be a bit difficult.”

He continued: “Aliens is a very successful example [of a new director coming in]. Unfortunately, in our case, it’s more like The Terminator, that once Cameron steps out of it there was kind of a mess.”

This is not the first time Kojima has expressed an interest in leaving the Metal Gear franchise. He had stated that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots would be his last game in the series but has since made several Metal Gear games since.

Kojima has stated that he doesn’t want to be remembered only as the Metal Gear guy and that he would like to try different things.

“Within the games industry, I would like to make more games that have that indie game taste or some completely different type of game with a big budget – something in a completely different direction,” he continued. “If I wasn’t doing games, well of course I’d like to get involved in movies or write novels.

“I’m almost 50 years old, so I don’t have that much time left. If I was to write a list of things that I want to do before I die, it would be a very stuffed list. Because of my age, I’m starting to think of the other things I have to do before I die.”

Kojima has been working on Metal Gear titles since 1987 and no one could possibly begrudge him moving on. His latest Metal Gear games, Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain will be out this year.